LESS

A simple data sharing idea...

2006-04-03T22:32:00.000-07:00

So as I have been claiming for a long while now it all boils down to simple, but easier said than done and all products want to provide value for their customers and stay lightweigt, easy,simle & sexy. First as a product designer you must identify the customer, understand the use cases and cover them in the most creative way possible.
For this "LESS" oriented idea my customer is the personal day trader, he or she have an amount of money that is free or create a demo profile in etrade, yahoo finance etc. and want to maximize their profit. These users mostly want small, fast profits of 5-10% providing these profits is hard work but very possible through the use of technical anlaysis namely the RSI, MFI and MACD factors that can be leveraged for a nice profits.
Watch my new market watch site for the above excited day trader on BARAKStock !

Another lightweight and simple idea, but...

2006-02-20T11:33:00.001-08:00

This is a nice simple idea but we should not get confused with simple and useful. We always need a use case and a reason for someone to use our product (preferably a pain point he is trying to solve). Using the product below was fun but did not adhere to the criteria above:

create your own visited country map

"How to obtain simplicity" - The first baby steps

2006-01-29T12:10:00.000-08:00

I read the great Article Simple, the last paragraph in the article discusses "How to obtain simplicity", I believe this is a key problem inhibiting us from getting simpler in our products and designs. There are some thinking "templates" created by different proffesors (e.g.Creativity in Product Innovation), but is our answer a structured process that still needs to be outlined? Is it a magic like event that transformers our products into simple products? I believe we have a lack in persistent thinking and investment in making products simple. We always rush forward to create and deliver, design and sell. Taking a step back and investing 30% of our time in thinking how to simplify can lead to product greatness. My next posts will start spreading thoughts about how this time should be invested to achieve product greatness.

The little "design" prince

2006-01-28T09:52:00.000-08:00

You know you’ve achieved perfection in design, not when you
have nothing more to add, but when you have nothing more to take away.
- Antoine de Saint-Exupery

I realy liked this quote of the day it says a lot about the "LESS"
idea giving it more of a context outside the software and product
development world and our time, I decided it will be the perfect
description for this blog.

The weekly "Less"-on

2006-01-23T18:49:00.000-08:00

"Less" at its simplest really means that. When developing,designing or creating a product or an idea take 30 minutes and think what can I do without? What will happen to my product if I drop the most integral part out of it, how will it evolve? If I am an interior designer what will happen to my modernly designed home if I remove the center piece of all design (e.g. the colors from the walls), how will my invention evolve? Which directions will it take me to? Being able to take a break and think "Less" can move you into new spaces and exciting idea. Thinking of it I would be at home right now tangled in a network cable or chained to my desktop if the inventors of WiFi would not stop to think and said to themselves, "What if we take this cable away?"

What is less?

2005-12-04T12:23:00.000-08:00

Many products claim to have LESS features but this fine balance can be achieved not only for new products (like the iPOD) but can also be applied to existing products, products applying the LESS template can transform from old,clunky products (website or others) to cutting edge Light, Simple and EASY products. A great example of this transformation are many news websites who made the step from the WSJ type of format to a different format that is light easy simple and sexy like the GOOGLE news site.

The main point is that many existing products have many complex features and possiblities, the owners of these products must better understand their existing capabilities and content and before taking the easy (but wrong) step of adding more features to their products they must try to understand what they can remove from their products to better serve their customers.

More Examples will be more than welcome ...

What is less?

2005-04-30T19:07:00.000-07:00

A perspecitve to product development (software and others) where the product is "LESS" (Lightweight, easy, simple and Sexy) and has less "advanced", "amazing" features.
This change of priorities can lead to new products that better serve customers and are very cheap to maintain in your organization.